WESTFORD, Mass. (AP) — WESTFORD, Mass. (AP) — Kadant Inc. (KAI) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $24 million.

On a per-share basis, the Westford, Massachusetts-based company said it had net income of $2.04. Earnings, adjusted for costs related to mergers and acquisitions and amortization costs, came to $2.27 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.19 per share.

The equipment supplier for the papermaking and paper recycling industries posted revenue of $286.2 million in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $273 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $102 million, or $8.65 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.05 billion.

For the current quarter ending in March, Kadant expects its per-share earnings to range from $1.78 to $1.88.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $270 million to $280 million for the fiscal first quarter.

Kadant expects full-year earnings in the range of $10.40 to $10.75 per share, with revenue ranging from $1.16 billion to $1.19 billion.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on KAI at https://www.zacks.com/ap/KAI